Soooo... With all the horrific stuff that has gone on at schools etc, we now have armed police officers at our school. Today my DH got off work early and we walked to school with the dog to get the girls. I went up into the carloop area to gather them and he stayed at the edge of the school property with Jäger.

Baylie came out with kinder first, I thought I saw the 3rd graders come up the opposite end but didnt see Rylie. I waited for Mack with the 1st graders and then walked down to get Rylie. The problem? She wasn't there. I mean NO WHERE to be seen. Her teacher and friends insisted she had been there when they left the classroom. At first I wasn't concerned. I walked the route back to the classroom, walked the halls, checked the bathrooms etc, and then figured I had just missed her. I walked back to the carloop and she STILL wasn't there after about 15 minutes. At that point I panicked. I told her teacher, call someone, call them NOW, radio whoever she is missing. Her teacher turned white and ran to the police officer. He radioed the front office, the principal dispatched everyone available to look and after another 10 minutes we realized she wasn't the only child missing. At this point I am in full on panicked psycho mom mode. I was FURIOUS and asked how in the hell you loose two kids on a 3 minute walk from the classroom? I made her teacher cry. :-( Mack was still with me and started to cry asking where her sister was, Greg realized something was wrong and started to walk up to the loop with Jäger and Baylie, her friends started to panic. I cannot even tell you the fear in my heart at that moment. It was a mad house. The police officer cannot leave the carloop at that time and radioed to back up that we have 2 missing kids on campus, an announcement went out over the pa to lock the school down and all cars were stopped from leaving... JUST as they went to lock the gates, guess which two little girls came out of a room??? You guessed it. My daughter and her little friend. I ran up to her and hugged her then I started yelling. Where HAVE YOU BEEN!?! Have you lost your mind?!? Everyone has been looking for you!!!! You scared us all to death!!! At that point my emotions took over and I was crying and yelling. Other kids were just staring at me, her teacher and her teacher from last year who were standing with us were crying, the police officer was canceling back up, and the principal was trying to get traffic moving again. Hot friiggin mess.

Apparently the kids found out today who made the school play. The little girl Rylie was with was not selected and she ran into an empty classroom crying. Rylie followed after her to comfort her having no idea they would be considered missing and cause all of this. Because the classrooms are required now to be locked at all times no one looked in the rooms that were empty. When I was able to calm myself I told Rylie I was proud she went to help a friend who was upset, but explained what they did and how it looked to everyone else. I am pretty darn sure it will never happen again. I feel really really bad I was yelling at her in front of everyone, but I couldn't help it. I was terrified. It was one of those awful mom moments where you wish you would have handled it better but your emotions overwhelm you. I wanted to beat her butt and hug the crap out of her at the same time. I love that my daughter has such a good heart, but I wish her brain would kick in just as loud. Lol OMG.

I gave her teacher a hug and apologized for saying what I did. I know it's really not her fault. She told me she didn't blame me one bit, but I still feel awful. I think I owe her a gift certificate for a dinner. Lol she said she was texting her fiancé to have a strong Margherita ready for her when she got home. Lol

Replies

Oh wow 70 kids would be hard to keep track of. Holy moly she must be a good person yikes. Well our school does have the same kinda of split up car riders walkers and after school but no person can have more than 18 kids at one time. The back leads onto the base and has to be opened in ordered for us to get to the kids, so it can be a little crazy and sometimes takes forever so each person has to keep track of there group at all times. This is his teachers first year doing a military type school and she doesn't really get it. I'll be glad to go to third grade :-(

Quoting DestinyHLewis:

With their school one teacher is assigned to take out the entire line of 3rd grade car riders each day. One does the aftercare kids and one does walkers and bike riders. Because we don't have buses at our school, most kids are car riders. So I'd say she has easily about 70 kids in her car rider line. Generally speaking she keeps the trouble maker kids at the front of the line with her. Rylie is one of those kids you just never worry about. She is always where she is supposed to be and no one would ever think shed run off. Lol she and her friend were at the back of the line, so with that many kids plus other grades walking with them I can see where the teacher wouldn't have seen the spilt second two kids stepped into a classroom. I found it odd that not one of the other kids in line with them noticed though. At first I honestly thought she had to use the bathroom and didnt have time to tell the teacher she had to go because she has been having some issues with that. The funny thing is I usually pick her up in the carloop and not till about 2:35. But we were there at 2 yesterday because we walked up. If I had picked them up at the normal time I probably would have been none the wiser. Lol you should have heard Rylie tell my mom about the fiasco. LOL She was like GRAMMY! MOM WAS FREEEEEEAAAKING OUT AND SHE MADE ALL THE TEACHERS AND POLICE FREAK OUT! Lol I was like I MADE THEM FREAK OUT?!? Ummmm I'm not the one who went missing kid!! This is her teachers very first year teaching. Something tells me she isn't ever going to forget the first time she lost a kiddo. Lol poor girl.

Quoting Mommytolas:

Aww yea unfortunately those bad days seem to shine brighter than the good ones. I can imagine how felt and think you handled it pretty well. My ss is second grade and I can't stand his teacher as she never has her class in line or together so we've had multiple instances of kids (ie my ss and his friend because they ofcourse make it their goal to cause a problem) being locked out of the school when the class reenters. They can't go anywhere because we are on a military base and the school is gated and someone is stationed at the entrance BUT if you know which kids are causing the problems please keep them with you. Ofcourse your daughter was doing a good thing but I would hope a teacher would notice a little girl running off crying and then two kids missing.

Oh wow! I think you handled yourself just like any other mom would! I would have been the same way, things like that are scary! I'm glad everything is okay now :)! You're DD sounds like a sweetheart for wanting to help her friend. My DS #1 is the same way, he cares so much for others but like you said I wish his brain would kick in just as strong lol.